AnnaTravels2011

I get myself up pretty early on Monday and manage to get the Metro by myself for the first time, so I’m feeling pretty smug. I take a marshrutka to Zugdidi but, as usual, things happen that are outside my control and beyond my comprehension. At Senaki I’m told to get off the marshrutka and to get on another one, where we sit and wait for a while. I once again realise that if a Georgian guy wants your phone number there’s really nothing you can do about it. Saying no makes no difference. Saying you’re married makes no difference. If that guy wants your number, he’s going to get it. Eventually we drive to Zugdidi and by the time we get there it’s just me and two guys on the bus. We arrive just in ... read more

For those of you who don’t know (and that group included me until last Saturday morning) Richie Dixon was the coach of the Georgian National Rugby team, until the end of the last world cup. Apparently Georgia has a very good side. That is, in its entirety, my knowledge of the game of rugby. But I’ll start at the beginning. I’m kind of hoping to get out of school early on Friday but it doesn’t happen. The reason I want to get out early is cos I know that, if I do, I’ll be able to hitch to Tbilisi with Ally or Ara and it will save me 15 lari but they both get out hours before me so I’m on my own. I wait for ages with Eka and Maia outside the school, hoping ... read more

Tuesday’s a fairly standard day at school. We go to drink coffee after my first lesson and I’m fed cakes and pears in syrup and apple jam. I’m feeling quite ill by the end of it. I’m actually slightly concerned about my last couple of weeks at home cos I can see the quantities of food and opportunities to eat increasing on a daily basis. Things also seem to be getting more and more lax at school as the holidays approach. We sit in the kitchen for about ten minutes into the next lesson. The general attitude seems to be that someone else will be taking care of it. I’m supposed to give the sixth graders their extra lesson after school but only two of them turn up so Eka and I decide it’s probably not ... read more

I take my weekend bag with me to school on Friday, even though I still have no clear idea what I’m doing or where I’m going. I figure if nothing comes up I can always take it home again! Between classes I type up the test for the sixth grade that I wrote the night before. Given how drunk I was when I wrote it I’m relieved to see it all makes sense. We go to drink coffee before my last class and Maia has brought in a jar of roasted peanuts mixed with honey. It’s delicious and I could have eaten it all day. One of the other teachers is sick so Eka and I agree that I will supervise the sixth grade test while she covers the other class. We’re about half way through ... read more

On Monday night I sleep really well for the second night in a row and wake up in a great mood on Tuesday. I don’t think I realised how rubbish I’d been feeling until I wasn’t! It’s nice to be back at school after my day off. I tell Maia all about my weekend and everyone asks me about Bakoriami and Maia tells me a story about her weekend. Apparently her and Eka had a training session in Zugdidi and during the break they were sitting in a café with a ‘negro’ boy (her word not mine). One of the other volunteers I think. Some Georgian guys at the next table started throwing cake at him. They had to persuade him not to call the police! Honestly, some people. For all its wonderful qualities every now ... read more

I wake up on Friday morning incredibly conscious that I have not had a shower since Monday. I had bought baby wipes the day before for that very reason but my room is freezing and the prospect of stripping off does not appeal. In the end I make a tent of my duvet and sit under it with my torch and have my ‘shower’ that way. Bet not many people have done that before! The plan is to meet the others in Khashuri that evening and, given they’re a couple of hours closer to it than I am I’m hoping to get out of school early. As luck would have it one of the teachers is sick so Eka takes her class while I teach the sixth grade and we’re done an hour early. I love ... read more

Ok, I’m going to warn you in advance that this is going to be a fairly whiney post. I don’t mean for it to be, I just had a bit of a rubbish week. A combination of no electricity (and therefore no shower), no sleep and being ill (albeit only a little bit) just conspired to make it a bit miserable. I’m up and off to school with the kids on Monday morning but the marshrutka doesn’t stop for us so we have to walk and we’re about ten minutes late. If I had my way we’d walk every day, partly for the exercise and partly because if the marshrutka fails to turn up or is full then by that time it’s way too late to walk to school in time. Mari and I have the ... read more

I head to school on Friday and it’s a pretty standard day. Eka asks if I want to leave before the last lesson but I decline as I’m in no particular rush to get to Tbilisi and leaving 45 minutes early won’t make much of a difference anyway. Eka and I are kind of at a loss as to what to do with first grade. We’ve finished the alphabet with them and taught colours and the early numbers but from there the Macmillan book jumps onto basic grammar and neither of us think they’re ready for it. They’re only young and they’re still learning the Georgian alphabet. On the other hand Eka can’t just continue to go through the alphabet for the rest of the year! I grab a marshrutka into town and check my balance ... read more

Monday morning involves a bit of a mad rush for school. I always forget that Eka has no lessons on Monday so I’m generally waiting for her to put her shoes on as a sign that our departure is imminent. It doesn’t really matter anyway because we wait until 8.45am and, with no sign of the bus, Mari and I start walking to school as fast as our little legs will carry us. When I get home our neighbour’s two grownup daughters are over visiting so everybody sits in the living room chatting and I sit there trying to pretend I have a clue what they’re talking about. Later Eka tells me that Gala wants her to go to his friend’s birthday the next day in Senaki but that she has three classes. It’s not the ... read more

Friday is a good day. I go to school with my bags packed for the weekend and, miracle of miracles, the radiators are on! It’s the first time in weeks I’ve taught without hat, scarf, coat and gloves on and it’s wonderful. Plus I have the fifth grade first and I (almost) always enjoy their lessons. I have no lesson during the second period but three classes after that. I’m in the teachers’ room with Maia when the director comes in. Her, Maia and one of the other teachers spend five minutes talking about how beautiful and wonderful I am – ‘Anna, you are best volunteer!’ and then our director asks me when I’m going to Borjomi. I say I am teaching until 13.30 and then I will take a marshrutka into town and then see ... read more